Dhondup Wangchen, China

2012 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee

(Courtesy of CNN)

Dhondup
Wangchen is a self-taught Tibetan documentary
filmmaker who conceived and shot the film "Leaving Fear Behind" to portray life in
Tibet in advance of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Shortly after his footage was
smuggled overseas, Wangchen disappeared into Chinese detention.
His colleagues in Switzerland founded the film company Filming for Tibet to produce the 25-minute
film from interviews with Tibetans that Wangchen had taped.

In March
2008, the same month that Wangchen was detained, peaceful Tibetan protests
deteriorated into clashes with Han Chinese residents of Lhasa, capital of the
Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Tibetan areas of western China. Wangchen became
the first of at least 10 Tibetans who were imprisoned as Chinese authorities
launched a crackdown on independent coverage of tensions in Tibet.

Knowledge
of Wangchen's whereabouts came only after Jigme Gyatso, a monk who had helped
shoot the film, was released after being jailed for seven months. A year later,
in December 2009, Wangchen was sentenced to six years in prison. In January
2010, he was denied appeal.

Wangchen's
family was not told of the charges against him, and they learned secondhand
that he had been convicted of inciting separatism. He has contracted hepatitis
B in prison.

Wangchen
moved his wife, Lhamo Tso, and four children to India before beginning the
film, in order to protect them from reprisal by Chinese authorities. Tso, who
has traveled internationally to campaign
for her husband's release, has ensured that Wangchen's case remains in the
public eye.

"Leaving Fear Behind" has screened
around the world. Filming for Tibet is now at work on a second film from the
same material.